My almost 5 months old golden/lab cross Diego does this once in a while: he'd pee a little bit (sometimes quite a bit) in the house, almost like a warning. If I take him out immediately, he'd finish off the rest. Sometimes this happens just minutes after I took him out.

I don't understand. He can hold up to 8 hours by now in his crate, why can't he hold outside of the crate? I mean I praise him like crazy when he's peeing outside, why can't he remember that? He used to stand in front of the patio and wag his tail to signal that he wanted to pee, but he stopped doing that, so now we have to watch him every second or he'd make a mess. He even pooped last night in the basement! :eek:

It is really frustrating to know that our house-training has failed or partially failed, he was doing so well. I don't know what I should do next.

BMDLuver

May 26th, 2005, 11:52 AM

Maybe he has some type of health issue? If not, I would suggest using a 20ft lead and tethering him to you so that he can't make an error easily. Also, when going outside with him, completely ignore him and stroll the yard until he does what he needs to do. Then praise like the dickens and have some playtime. My Berner pup was this way and within two weeks of doing this, he was finally clean in the house outside his kennel. :thumbs up

nymph

May 26th, 2005, 12:49 PM

The only problem with a long lead is that I'm afraid he's going to chew it, he's already chewed through one halti and a retractible leash.

I'm going to up my praise level, hopefully that'll work.

Lissa

May 26th, 2005, 11:25 PM

Dodger had more than a couple relapses when being house-trained (his breed is known for this :) ) Anyway, I was frustrated and really didn't understand why he did it sometimes - it made no sense in my mind!! But some situations I hadn't considered ended up being the reason why he was having accidents.

For example, having the heating on high caused him to drink more which = more pee; or coming back for a long walk and drinking lots = more pee; or chasing the cat and getting excited = more pee; or just being silly = more pee; or having visitors = more pee; even training = more pee!!! The list goes on (for Dodger anyway!!!!)

I think you should be very proud of Diego and your house training so far because there is no way that Dodger could hold himself during the day for 8 hours at 5 momths old! He probably couldn't do it now (at 11 months old) unless the house was empty and he slept the whole time (right now someone is always at home so he's more active which = more pee :) !!!!!

I definately think that tying him to you is the way to go - maybe not a 20 foot yet since you mention he chews. The closer he is to you, the better chance you have of preventing an accident AND stopping him from chewing (2 birds, 1 stone kinda deal). I think you should tackle the whole chewing the leash thing NOW too, it's not acceptable!!!

Of course, keep up the praise too!

nymph

June 1st, 2005, 12:19 PM

This is so strange: Diego would only give this "warning pee" when we are around. Last weekend hubby and I were doing some gardening in the backyard and we let Diego stay home alone, he was perfectly fine, laying quietly by the patio door, but only a short while after we came back to the house, which was only minutes after having taken him outside, he peed again.

Was he looking for attention?

I tried to praise him like crazy, but he gets so excited that he pees all over himself. Any suggestions?

Lissa

June 8th, 2005, 01:16 PM

How's Diego doing now?

What kind of pee - just a short dribble or a rather large puddle?
I think it must have something to do with excitement. It's definately not a marking thing, right? Is it in the same spot?
How long did you take him for a walk? Maybe he needs longer to "get all the pee out"? If Diego gets distracted on his walk, he might "forget" that he still needs to empty his bladder. Also, he may be holding his pee for marking purposes so you might need to take him out for longer.
For Dodger, it was suggested to put him in his crate for the first 15-30 minutes after a walk. Maybe it will help Diego calm down a bit? If necessary (at first anyway) take him out again after his time in the crate - it might help - I don't know!
Try giving him a command for his eliminations, Dodger has one and it helped in the beginning.
Did you check with you vet to make sure it's not a health-related issue? If you still can't come up witha reasonable explanation then its possible that there is an underlying health isssue?

nymph

June 8th, 2005, 02:36 PM

Diego hasn't had an accident since last Friday! Yay!

It's usually a short dribble, only a few drops, but sometimes it could be a small puddle. Diego does get very excited during his walk, so I usually let him hang out in my backyard after the walk so that he could empty his bladder, and he usually does pretty well.

I'm almost certain at this point that I'm the one to blame for not letting him out frequently enough. Melissa, your previous post made a lot of sense to me: more activities, any activity = more pee. I guess that my expectation of Diego increased since he grows bigger (42 lbs now) and I forgot that he's in fact still a puppy.

Thanks for your feedback and I wish I could meet Dodger in person some day!

Lissa

June 8th, 2005, 04:23 PM

WOW! :crazy: Great news, I'm so happy for both of you - good for little-BIG Diego! I went through the same with Dodger, he was my first puppy that was 100% in my care so I learned as much as he did! Just as you and Diego are now!

Good Luck and I hope he makes it to Friday - a whole week with no accidents! My fingers are crossed! :D

I would also love to meet Diego one day. Dodger doesn't get to interact with puppies very often and when he does he gets crazy excited and oftentimes too rough for them. And I don't want Diego to be intimidated! Hopefully one of these days they'll be able to meet when Diego is older and better able to handle Dodger's nonsense!!

Melissa

nymph

June 16th, 2005, 12:32 PM

I don't want to jinx it, but Diego has not had an accident yet! Almost 2 weeks without accidents! Yay! :fingerscr

Lissa

June 16th, 2005, 12:51 PM

Good for Diego! That is a long time and a huge achievement. I was wondering how he was doing - I'm glad that he is doing so well! :)